PBB boosts core banking system

Yao group-led Philippine Business Bank (PBB) is investing over P400 million to migrate to a new core banking system that will allow the thrift bank to adopt more robust processes and diversify its product offering amid an era of disruptive technologies.

PBB signed up Indian IT solutions firm Intellect Design Arena Ltd. to provide the new core banking system, which will serve front, middle and back-end processes of the bank.

“This is a US$7 to $8 million project,” PBB president Roland Avante said in an interview during the signing ceremony with Intellect.

With this new system in place, Avante said PBB would be able to expand its portfolio and match or at least, allow the bank to easily adopt financial technology (fintech) services that could be integrated into the system in the future.

“We will be able to ride the e-commerce business, ride e-banking and do some other applications especially on the consumer banking side. This is supposed to be a robust system,”

“What we bring to PBB is our latest fully integrated Intellect digital core. We call it IDC 19.1. Intellectual digital core (IDC) banking suite is a unique combination of product innovation, technology optimization, streamlining operations and transformational customer experience, which lowers the total cost of ownership for the bank. A modular and scalable solution is equipped to meet the challenges of technology, regulations and going customer and business demands,” said Rajesh Saxena, chief executive officer of global consumer banking at Intellect.

This core banking system has been implemented by around 40 banks around the world, including tier one banks in the European region and banks in Southeast Asia and Africa.

“From the time you do a transaction, we’re hoping that we’ll be able to get a lot of mileage from the CIF, or customer information front. That’s one of the biggest things because it talks about the whole DNA of a client at one’s fingertip, then being to translate that to more business,” Avante said.

“Then the system should also be able to support us fully on MIS (management information system) because MIS is the one that’s driving the business moving forward. So that gives you an idea on what we’re doing, where you are now and what you need to do in the future so it will drive the business,” he added.